Charlotte home and Democrat., 1887-06-03
AGRICULTU RAL.
Remove the Stumps.


Il 10 remarkable thing that SO many
farmers will permit stumps, stumps by
the dozen, stumps by the hundred, to
remain in their fields, when every stump
10 not only an unsightly but costly en-
cumbrsnce. In travelling on the rail-
road q few days ago, but few miles from
Raleigh, in beautiful range of country,
Just undulating enough for good drainage,
we saw field containing hundred acres
or more, with stumps so numerous and
close together that plowing straight fur
row would be an utter impossibility.
How long these stumps have stood there
We do not know, but, Judging from their
decayed appearance, probably many
years. How much they have cost the
owner of that field in the loss of time 10
blowing his land and in the cultivation of
his crops, in the wear and tear of stock,
harness and farm implements he will
never know, because he has probably
never given the subject moments
thought. But it has cost him money all
the same, much money every year, and
will cost him much every year they stand
there. They not only cost him money
thus directly but indirectly they cost him
much more, in preventing thorough cul,
ture, in taking up much valuable land
which could be proftably utilized, and by
preventing the ready use OF improved
machinery for blowing, cultivating and
for harvesting the ripened crops.
We live in a rapid age, an age not only
of quick thought, but of quick execution.
Inventive genius has given as machinery
which has multiplied productive power so
that one man now is the equivalent OF
scores of men decade or two And in-
ventive genius has not been idle on the
farm. 1t has given us machines to do
about everything that is to be done upon
the farm from turning the soil to thresh-
ing the grain. 1t has given Us the sulky
plow upon which the farmer sits and rides
at ease while he plows his land, instead of
trudging along wearily between the han
dies OF the plow. 1t has given US the
sulky cultivator constructed upon the
same principle upon which the driver
rides. It has given US the mower upon
which the farmer sits while his waving
fields of grass fall before the swiftly NOW
ing scythe, and the self-binder which cuts
and binds the ripened grain and lays it
aside ready for the stacker. With all of
these the work OF many hands is speedily
and effectually done by few. 1t is thus
that marvellous products OF the grain
growing west have become a possibility;
machinery takes the place of men, and
the acreage and product are multiplied.
With a couple OF teams, equipped with
this machinery the western farmer will
cultivate a hundred acres or more in
wheat, oats, corn, grass, potatoes, &c,
keep a consider erable number of cattle, aud
hogs, and have reasonable time for rest
P,,Nh ha 1uSt do I
il he had to contend with an army OF re-
.isting stumps. These make the effective
use OF machinery an impossibiity and
effectually block the path of progress. IT
the removal of them was a laborlous or
costly undertaking that might be areason
why they are permitted to remain. But
it is not They may be easily removed
with explosive agencies. burned with oil,
dug out or pulled out with machinery de-
vised for that purpose, and sold at a price
that any ordinary farmer, with stumpy
fields can afford to pay, and which could
be purchased at an insignificant sum to
each il several farmers having such fields
we're to club together and buy one In com.
mon; or man of mechanical turn OF
mind could easily contrive an apparatus
which with the use of couple OF oxen or
PSoS
very we'll. The time and the money
spent in eradicating these costly nuisances
will be both well invested and even work
dons upon the farm for the time taken
and money spent will pay the farmer
better.-RaLeigh Progressive Farmer.
Come Back to the Rule of Our Fathers.
Our farmers are planting less cotton
and tobacco, more grain and grass and
clover. This rule it followed will lead
back to the good old days and the good
old times OF our fathers. Let them follow
without Notwithstanding neither to the
right nor left, until they shall be able to
pay cash for what they buy. Pay the
merchant cash-he can then buy his goods
cheaper and sell them cheaper. Let him
keep only his cash book, and he will not
be forced to charge you long and ruin
Gus profit on what you buy, in order that
he may save himself in the bad accounts
he had made with your neighbor, who
cannot, or who will not pay him. Pay
cash and keep your neck out from under
the CALLING, slavish yoke of liens and
mortgages-paY cash and save the enor'
NOUS interest which you pay in profits
pay cash and be independent.-Rateigh
Farmer.
FENCE PosTs THAT WILL LAST.-A
writer in Cotton Plant says: 81 discov.
cred many years ago that wood could be
made to last longer than iron in the
ground, but thought the process SO sim
pie that it was not we'll to make a stir
about it. would as soon have poplar
Eastwood or ash as any other kind of tim.
Der for fence posts. / have taken out
basswood posts after having been set out
seven years that were as sound when
taken out as when put in the ground
Time and weather seemed to have nc
effect on them. The posts can be pre-
pared for less than two cents a piece.
This is the recipe: Take boiled linseed
oil and stir in pulverized coal to the con
sistancy of paint. Put a coat of this over
the timber, and there is not man that
will live TO see it rot"
A GOoD WHITEwAsH.-Will you please
give receipt in your next issue to make a
whitewash that will stand the weather
and also what to color with to make a
deep slate color? Answer: Slske one